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Ranji Trophy: Delhi aim another outright win against Odisha

Delhi are currently placed fifth having got nine points from four games while Odisha are a notch below at sixth with eight points.

Sambhalpur: Having got some confidence back after an outright win against Haryana, a confident Delhi will be aiming for another six points when they take on Odisha in their fifth round Ranji Trophy group A encounter here tomorrow with spotlight once again on an out-of-form Virender Sehwag.

Delhi are currently placed fifth having got nine points from four games while Odisha are a notch below at sixth with eight points from an equal number of outings.

Full points from the game is a necessity for both the teams in order to stay on course for a quarter-final berth but Delhi will also be fighting some off-field battles which makes it even more challenging.

As reports emerged that skipper and India discard Gautam Gambhir was not happy with the squad selection, it will be interesting to see the kind of team combination employed by Delhi.

One of the major changes in the squad will be inclusion of wicketkeeper Rahul Yadav, who played his only first-class match four years ago against Bengal as a specialist opener.

Yadav has replaced long-time keeper Puneet Bisht, who has been dropped after having taken five catches in an innings in the last game against Haryana. Bisht's form with the bat has been a bit patchy which led to his exclusion.

According to chief coach Sanjeev Sharma, the pitch looks to be a firm one with even bounce. "Sumit Narwal will be coming back from injury and fits into the XI in place of Ishant Sharma (on national duty).

Ashish Nehra has got much needed rest and is fit and raring to go. Varun Sood will be our only spinner," Sharma told PTI today. Nehra is expected to replace Pawan Suyal, who didn't have an extraordinary match against Haryana on a pacer-friendly Roshanara ground.

For Odisha, skipper Biplab Samantray and seamer Basant Mohanty's performance will be key to the team's show. The performance of the Odisha batsmen wasn't upto the mark in the last game against Karnataka which they lost by four wickets.